Day Eleven: Part Two

By 1100 the day had turned into a scorcher so we found a shady café on Rue du Maroquin to stop for a rest and a cooling drink (not even alcoholic!).

 All refreshed, the kids were both chomping at the bit to have a look at the Œuvre Notre-Dame Museum of Medieval and Renaissance Art.  Created between 1931 and 1939 it presents a view of the evolution of art in Strasbourg and the Upper Rhine region between the 11^th and 17^th centuries.  The museum itself is situated within Gothic, Renaissance and 17^th century buildings.

We had the museum to ourselves and spent about an hour moving from the Romanesque to the Gothic, which included many 15^th and 16^th century sculptures from the cathedral.  We wandered in a medieval garden before moving on to the end of the Middle Ages where the kids picked their all time favourite the “Deceased Lovers”.  We finished the tour from the Renaissance to the end of the 17^th century before admitting defeat with two bored, hungry children and calling it a day

 “Capital with fantastic heads” from the end of the 12^th century

 Column base with bearded sphinx (around 1200)

 Wissembourg Head

The Wissembourg Head is the oldest complete depiction of the face of Christ in stained glass (the Lorsch Head is earlier but in fragmentary condition) and dates from c1060, an extremely rare survival. It originated from the abbey of Wissembourg

 Some gothic and Romanesque stained glass windows

 Base of a column with statue (12^th Century)

 St Margareth with a dragon (1240-1250)

 Virgin & Child (around 1502-03)

 Holy Sepulchre (fragment of sleeping guards) 1531

 Seated Dog 1240-1250

 The Wise Virgins (around 1280-90)

 Views from the Medieval garden

 Tombstone of Baron Louis V de Lichtenberg 1471

 Original sections from the Cathedral’s central gable (1290)

 14^th century stained glass

 The Deceased Lovers (around 1470) was the only thing the kids thought worth looking at!  Lets just say that they were both highly fascinated and amused.

          Stained-glass panel with the arms of the Œuvre Notre-Dame

 Medieval room looking straight from a film set

By the time we had made it to the end of the 17^th century I believe we had pushed the limits of our children on the history front!!